Shopping bag with foldable, extensible top



Nov. 16, 1948. F. F. SCHERZINGER 2,454,013

SHOPPING BAG WITH FOLDABLE EXTENSIBLE TOP Filed March 14, 1945 PatentedNov. 16, 1948 OFFICE SHOPPING BAG WITH FOLDABLE, EXTENSIBLE TOP Frank F.Scherzinger, Henderson, Nev. Application March 14, 1945, SerialNo. 582616 1 Claim. 1

My invention relates to a folding extensible top shopping bag and hasfor its principal objects, to provide a simple, practical andinexpensive shopping bag which may be collapsed and compactly folded soas to occupy very little space while not in service, further, toconstruct the upper portion of the bag so that it may be easily andquickly folded or unfolded, so as to increase or decrease its volumetricor carrying capacity and further, to provide a, simple and novelarrangement of handles which perform their in tended function when thesize or carrying capacity of the bag is made larger or smaller.

With the foregoing and other objects in View, my invention consists incertain novel features of construction and arrangement of parts whichwill be hereinafter more fully described and claimed and illustrated inthe accompanying drawings, in which:

Fig. l is a perspective View of my improved shopping bag with the upperportions of its walls folded inward and downward so as to diminish thelength and carrying capacity of said bag.

Fig. 2 is a perspective view showing the upper portions of the walls ofthe bag folded upwardly so as to increase the length and carryingcapacity of said bag.

Fig. 3 is a fragmentary elevational view looking in the direction of thearrow 3 in Fig. 1.

Fig. 4 is a fragmentary elevational view looking in the direction of thearrow 4 in Fig. 2.

Figs. 5 and 6 are elevational views of different forms of handles whichmay be used on my improved bag.

Referrin by numerals to the accompanying drawings, which illustrate apreferred embodiment of my invention, Ill designates a bag comprisingfour walls and a bottom which may be formed of suitable flexiblematerial such as paper, or fabric either plain or treated with rubber orother waterproof coating and the upper portion of said walls are foldedinwardly and downwardly to form hems II, the lower edges of which aresecured by rows of stitching I2.

Seated in the walls of the hems I I, on an oppositely disposed pair ofthe walls I 0, are grommets I3, of metal, plastics or the like, andwhich receive the flexible handles of the bag.

Suitably secured by rows of stitching or otherwise, to the externalfaces of the walls of the bag several inches below the hems II andparallel therewith are narrow reinforcing strips I4 of fabric or thelike and seated therein and in the underlying walls in verticalalignment with grommets I2 are grommets I5.

2 Those portions .of the walls of the bag above strips I4 function asthe extensible portion of the bag, and to decreaseor minimize the lengthof the bag said upper portions are folded downwardly into said bag so asto lie against the inner face of the walls thereof.

The handles of my improved bag are preferably of the form illustrated inFig. 5, each handle being formed from a suitable length of flexiblematerial such as cord.

Formed in the center of the cord is a knot I1 and the ends are tied toeach other by a knot I8. Thus the cord is divided in two U-shapedportions, one of which I9, forms a handle for the bag when the same isfolded to its smallest size, and the other portion 20 serves as a handlewhen the bag is opened to its largest size.

When the bag is folded to small size as seen in Figs. 1 and 3, handleportion I9 passes from the exterior of the bag inwardly through grommetsI5 with knots I I and I8 lying against the inner faces of said grommets,with handle portion 20 extending downward between the outer wall of thebag and the downwardly folded upper portion of said wall and thenceoutwardly through grommets I3, with that portion of the handle betweensaid grommets, lying against hem I I.

Thus the strains developed by the weight of the bag and its contentswhen carried, are transmitted to knots I1 and I8 bearing againstgrommets I5 and from thence to the upwardly projecting handle membersI9.

To lengthen and increase the carrying capacity of the bag, thedownwardly folded upper portions of the walls are unfolded to theposition seen in Figs. 2 and 4 and handle portions 20 are drawn upward,until knots I1 and I8 engage the inner faces of grommets I3.

- Under such conditions, handle portions I9 extend downward against theinner faces of the walls of the bag, thence outward through grommets I5with the central portions of said handle I9, lying against reinforcingstrap I 4.

In Fig. 6, I have shown a modified form of the handle wherein both endsof two pieces of heavy cord 2! are knotted as designated by 22 and theknots of one part connected to the respective knots of the other part byshort pieces 23 of small cord.

In the smaller sizes of bags, or where the material forming said bags isof extra strength, the reinforcing stri-p I4 may be dispensed with andthe grommets seated in the walls of the bag only.

Thus it will be seen that I have provided a shopping bag which is simplein structure, inexpensive of manufacture and which may be easily andquickly manipulated so as to be lengthened or shortened to therebyincrease or decrease its carrying capacity.

It will be understood that minor changes in the size, form andconstruction of the various parts may be made and substituted for thoseherein shown and describedtwithout departing from the spirit of theinvention, the scope of which is set forth in the appended claim.

I claim as my invention:

A foldable, extensible top predetermined portions of its walls at'thetop adapted to fold inwardly and downwardly into the bag, pairs ofopposed grommets seated in the upper portions of the side walls of saidbag, other pairs of opposed grommets seated in said side walls below thefoldable portions thereof and in vertical alignment with the grommets inthe upper portions of said side walls, an endless flexible handlearranged to slidefreely through the grommets in each side Wall withportions of said handles disposed on the insides of the foldableshopping bag, having I REFERENCES CITED The following references are ofrecord in the file of this patent:

UNITED STATES PATENTS Number Name Date 1,182,580 Maxfield May 9, 19161,805,810 Deubener May 19, 1931 1,810,347 Daitch June 16, 1931 1,986,743Musick Jan. 1, 1935 2,212,390 Conklin Aug. 20, 1940 FOREIGN PATENTSNumber Country Date 7 22,108 Great Britain 1906 547,391 Great BritainAug. 25, 1942

